The Ultimate Betrayal
by Anastasia The Goddess of Drama
Summary: Lily gets devastating news about James.


Lily Potter swore under her breath at her own stupidity. She honestly didn't know what had possessed her to go out alone in the middle of night. She had received a mysterious note that mentioned secret information about her husband James that she needed to know, asking for a meeting. She had ignored it at first, but slowly, the curiosity gnawed at her until she decided to meet the person. After all, it might explain why James was suddenly so distant now. She had figured it had something to do with the current war, but the further he withdrew, the more she doubted her own reasoning.

The night was cold and Lily pulled her coat closer to her body to keep warm. She was to meet the stranger at the central park in Godric's Hollow. It was a wide open space, neutral ground, Lily could run back home if she needed to. The park was completely silent except for the soft creaking of the swings, each squeak causing a chill to run down her spine. Lily surveyed the area slowly, but there was no one in sight. Maybe it was somebody playing a harmless prank, or just something to scare her a little...

Suddenly, there was a soft pop. Lily whipped her head around to the sound, wand drawn, but her mouth dropped when she saw who it was. Lucius Malfoy was dressed in his usual aristocratic attire, the green and silver of the Malfoy crest proudly emblazoned on his breast pocket. His blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, seemingly emphasising his sneering expression as he walked towards her. Not that Lily expected anything different from him, but she was still shocked as to why he was here.

"Sit." Lucius commanded, nodding to the bench that stood between them.

Lily glared at him, before complying begrudgingly. The quicker they got this over with, the quicker she could get home. She watched closely as he sat down too, only after wiping the seat with his handkerchief, and choosing the spot farthest away from her. They sat in momentary silence, watching the empty playground in front of them.

"I know you're probably wondering why I asked you to come here," Lucius started, "so I'll be blunt: James is cheating on you."

Lily couldn't help but laugh, "You're joking right?"

"I don't joke." Lucius seemed to bristle at the idea of that sort of nonsense. "Especially seeing as he's cheating on you with my wife."

Lily's laughter died immediately, and she turned to Lucius, "W-when?"

"Since our seventh year, my dear." Lucius answered, "Right under our noses for these last four years."

"How did you find out?" Lily asked quietly.

"Narcissa is pregnant again" Lucius informed her. "The last time we shared a bed was when we conceived Draco, I'm sure you can figure it out."

Lily blushed at Lucius' straightforward manner.

"B-but, how do you know that it was James? It could have been anybody!" Lily asked desperately.

"You haven't noticed the way they look at each other? It's quite obvious…" Lucius drawled.

"But you can't go by looks alone!"

Lucius sighed before reaching for something inside of his coat. Lily tensed up, her hand hovering around the handle of her wand.

"I have no interest in cursing you, Potter. I think we both know where my loyalties lie in this war…but I'm really more of a money-man, I don't like getting my hands dirty if I can help it…Please put your wand away so this can go smoothly."

Lily eyed him warily before doing as he said. Lucius pulled out a stack of pictures and handed them over to her. She carefully took them and looked down, a gasp escaping her as if she had been punched. The first picture of Narcissa and James was subtle, they were just walking down a street in London, like a natural couple. The next one was of them hugging, then kissing, and on and on it went. The only recurring thing about these picture was that-

"These are Muggle pictures…they're in the Muggle world." Lily noted, her heart aching.

Lucius nodded, "Clever bastards. I had to hire one of them Muggle…inspector…people, to take pictures, these two kept detecting the wizards I sent to spy on them. I only had a hunch because she was disappearing so often and for so long...imagine my surprise and anger when I saw this."

"But how do you know that it's been going on for four years?"

"Because I allowed it to happen for the first two" He admitted. "We weren't married and I didn't give a damn what she did, as long as it wasn't public. I had plenty of women on the side to keep me happy…I thought she understood this arrangement perfectly. This should have all ended the moment we were married, but as you can see, it didn't. Our vows meant nothing to them, and now they're having a child. We were both played."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lily whispered.

Lucius gave her a wry smile. "You were played in a game you didn't even know you were part of…at least I lost fair and square. You didn't have a chance from the beginning…I didn't want you to be surprised when the bastard child grows up and bears a striking resemblance to James and Narcissa."

Lily couldn't tear her eyes away from the photos as anger bubbled inside her. How could she be so stupid not to notice this? For years he had been cheating on her and acting like everything was alright, he'd been living a double life the entire time. She turned to say something to Lucius, but he had already vanished.

"So…what now?" Lily asked the empty playground.


End file.
